Greece to Impose Country of Origin Labelling on Milk

Greece plans to make country of origin labelling on milk mandatory from 2018, Agriculture Minister Evangelos Apostolou said on Thursday.

Apostolou said that a bill to regulate milk labelling will be tabled in Greek parliament next week. More precise food labelling is a trend across EU countries, something that the food industry is not very comfortable with.

International food companies argue that such protectionist measures from individual countries undermine the single EU market.

According to the Greek minister, the European Commission has given the green light for milk labelling. The main purpose of the labelling is that consumers are not misled, following complaints from livestock associations that fresh milk is sold in Greece without information on the country of origin on the label.

Apostolou also said that milk labelling is another measure to protect Greek livestock farmers.

Fresh milk in Greece is among the three most expensive in the EU, along with Italy and Cyprus, according to Eurostat data.